Dump-car.



No. 816,498. PATENTED MAR. 27, 1906.

- S. OTIS.

DUMP CAR. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 28, 1904.

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DUMP OAR.

PATENTED MAR. 27, 906.

No. 816,498. PATENTBD MAR. 27, 1906. s. 0131s. DUMP OAR.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 23, 1904.

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DUMP-CAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

-Patented March 27, 1906.

Application filed November 28, 190 Serial No. 23 L043.

have invented certain new and useful 1111- 1 movements in Dump-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of dump cars having dumping-doors and provided with main operating-shafts having suitable mechanisms connected therewith for operatmg the doors.

It relates particularly to the means for op- 1 crating the doors and supporting them in their open and closed positions.

The principal ob ect of my invention 15 to provide a simple, economical, and efiicient dun'n'i-car. 7

A further ob ect is to provide in a car having main operatingshafts and dumping doors suitable means adapted to be operated by such shafts for opening and closing the 5 doors and supporting them in open or closed positlon.

A. further ob ect is to provide suitable means for operating the main operatingshafts adapted to release such shafts and permit the doors to swing open and the shafts to rotate without subjecting the mechanism for (Ira-rating the shafts to unnecessary stress and strains.

A further object is to provide door-operating mechanisms properly housed so as to prevent the contents of the car from coming in l contact therewith.

A further object is toprovide in a car having d um ping-doors and swinging supportingshafts extending beneath such doors suitable means for operating the doors adapted to suspend such supporting-shafts so as to permit them to swing with the doors and serving to support the swinging shafts and thereby the doors in open and closed position.

A further object is to provide side stakes with hollow spaces therein for housing the door-operating mechanism arranged to oper ate in or extend into such spaces and to provide suitable side frame portions adapted to permit the main operating-shafts to be embedded or housed therein.

Other and further objects of the invention willappear from an examination of the drawings and the following description and claims.

The invention consists in the features, combinations, and details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

in the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a transverse sectional elevation of a car pro vided with my improvements, showing one of the doors in open position and the other in closed position and the respective door-oper- 1 ating door mechanisms in corresponding positions; Fig. 2, a side elevation of a portion of a car provided with my improvements; Fig. 3, a cross-sectional elevation of a poring the side stakes to the transverse beams and showing the main operating-shaft embedded or housed in the side frame: Fig. 4', a detail showing a sectional view of one of the 1 stakes and the manner of housing the segmental or eccentric semicircular drum there in and also showing the bearings for the main ing the sections of the main operating-shafts 5, a detail perspective view of one of the segmental or eccentric semicircular drums, showing the studs for forming the bearings of the main operating-shaft and the manner of connecting the separate sections of the 1 shaft, the ends of the shaftsections being removed from the sockets for the purpose of illustration; Fig. 6, a detail view irrelevation of the worm, worm-wheel, and clutch mechanism for operating the main 0 eratin shafts; and Fig. 7, asimilar view of t e rnec anisni shown in Fig. 6, showing the wormwheel in releasing position with relation to i the stud of the main operating-shaft, so as to permit the doors to swing open, the handwheel being broken away.

In constructing a dump-car and mechanism for operating and sup orting the dump ing-doors thereof in accorc ance with my improvements I provide suitable longitudinal sills a, mounted in and supported by suitable body-bolsters l) and having transverse beams c mounted thereon and supporting side frames (1. Suitable. end sills c and end frames 5 fare also provided, which may he of any ordinary and well-known construction, and the framework thus formed is mounted upon running-gears in a1 l ordinary and well-known manner.

Dumping-doors g are pivotally mounted in the framework of the'car upon shafts h by tallic straps extending across the under side of the doors and forming socket portions j, in which-are mounted suitable swinging doori l I means of hinges i, which are formed of mesupportingbars or shafts it, which extend longitudinally of the car beneath the doors tion of a car, showing the manner of attachoperating-shaft and the manner of connect and swing with suchdoors. They support the swinging sides of the dumping-doors in both open and closed position. These swinging supporting-shafts it are suspended upon links Z, and these links are in turn connected with and suspended from main operating shafts m by means of chains n and substantially semicircular or eccentric segmental drums 0, to which. the ends of the chains are attached. The rotation of these drums ,in one direction (the direction of the arrows shown in Fig. 1) will wind up the chain, and thereby close the doors, and their rotation in the opposite direction will permit the doors to open. In order to accomplish this, the chains which. support the doors are attached to the drums near, but slightly removed from, the end of the circular portion thereof, so that the turning of the drums in the direction to close the doors will wind the chains around the circular portions of the drums and cause the links to be raised, so that their upper ends extend above the attached ends of the chains, as shown at the left of Fig. 1. The circular portions of the eccentrics or semicircular drums are made to extend less than half-way around the pivotal center of the drum and main operating-shaft, so that the drum is entirely on one side of the axial center of the shaft and eccentric. By this arrangement the links 1 when in their raised position are slightly off center with relation to the axial center of the main operatingshafts in the direction of the chains and circular portions of the drums, so that the weight of the door and the load thereon tends to prevent the unwinding of the shafts and the consequent opening of the doors. The end of the drum swings into enga ement with the link Z when the door is cIosed and is thus prevented from rotating farther than is desirable. The movement 'of the drums a slight distance in the direction to release the doors will cause the links to pass to the opposite side of the axial center of the main 0' erating-shafts, so that the Weight of the oad uponthe doors or the weight of the doors will cause them to swing to open position.

In order to permlt the supporting-links to thus pass thea'xial center of the main operating-shafts, the drums are made substan tially in the form above indicated and mounted eccentricto the shaft pro er, as illustrated in Fig- 5, and are provide with cylindrical studs 19, which form bearings for the drums and shafts. These studs have square axial perforations q, forming sockets for admitting the ends of the sections of the main operatingshafts, which are also made preferably square, so that the drums and shafts upon which they are mounted are in fixed relation to each other. In order to use one-piece main oper- ,ating-shafts, it would be necessary to indent or bendthem out at the points corresponding to the position of the drums in order to allow 1, direction necessary to release th d n a in the form of flanges and are riveted to or I firmly connected in any desired manner with the transverse beams, so as to form together with such beams a rigid portion of the supporting-framework. The side flanges oi the transverse beams are spread apart at mu'll end of such beams, so as to provide a space fl 0, through which the dew-operating chain and link mechanisms extend. The side l'ran'res of the car are each provided with panels n,which may be in the form of metallic plates extending between the side stakes throng-innit llH entire length of the car and forming a part of the side frames, such panels or planes bein curved inward, as at w, for the purpose of permittin the main. operating-shafts in he. embeddec in or housed within the side as, as illustrated in Fig. 3. This ell'eri...

separates the main operatin -shafts from the contents of the car and at t 1e same time enables them to be so mounted that they do not extend outward beyond the outside surface of the side frames or side boards. By this arrangement the drums and chain and link mechanisms are housed within thehollow side stakes, side frames, and transverse beams, and the main operating-shafts are also housed within the side frames, and all are separated effectually from the contents of the car when in use.

In order to provide suitable means for operating the main operating-shafts, and thereby the dum ingdoors, I provide for each operating-sha t a worm-wheel y, which meshes with the teeth of a worm 2, mounted upon a vertical worm-shaft 2, having a hand-wheel 3, such worm-shaft being mounted at the end of the car in suitable bearings i and 5. The worm-wheel y is mounted in movable relation to the main operating-shaft and is provided with a segmental circular slot 6, into which a stud 7 extends, such stud being mounted upon the end of the main mperating shaft in fixed relation thereto and'co n nected to such shaft by means of a ring portion and a suitable pin 9. By this arrangement a s'dili cient amount of play is permit ted between the Worm-wheel and the stud 7, or, in other words, between the wormwheel and the main operating-shaft, so that the worm-wl'ieel may be rotated in one direction to wind the chain upon the circular portion of the d rum and raise the.

link, and therebv the door to closed pods lull,

and suchworm-wheel afterward 1w the opposite end of the slot enga es, the stud 7 before the door will be release A further movement of the'iworm-wheel in releasing direction after it engages the stud will cause the link I to pass to the opposite side'of the axial center of the main operating-shaft, thus to open position.

thereon in the hol ble element attached to each of such eccentric releasing the door and permitting it to swing The swinging of the door to open position is thus accomplished after the worm-wheel has first been turned asfar as possible in the direction to release the door and permit the stud 7 to rotate freelyin the slot and is accomplished in such a manner as to nelieve the worm-wheel and worm mechanism of all unnecessary stress and strains which might otherwise result from the weight of the load and door being upon the worm and wormwheel during the opening of the door.

. It should be noted that the door-supporting shafts 7c swing with the door and are both suspended from the main operating-shafts m without other support and that the doors in both their open and closed positions are supported upon. such swinging shafts and upon such main operating-shafts by means of the links I and the chains 1, which operate the doors, thus dispensing with the use of-any' other means or elements for supporting the swinging sides of the doors.

I c aim- 1 1. In a dump car, the combination of a car-frame, side frames provided with hollow side stakes, dumping-doors mounted in the car-frame, door-operating shafts mounted on opposite sides of the car parallel with the side frames each having eccentric drums mounted ow side stakes, and a flexidrums and connected with the doors for operating and supporting such doors, substantially as described.

2. In a dump car, the combination of a car-frame, a dumping-door mounted therein, a door-operating shaft mounted in the carframe extending longitudinally along the side thereof and having an eccentric drum substantially circular upon the. side farthest from the axial center of the shaft and. relatively flat upon the side nearest the axial center thereof, chain mechanism attached to such eccentric member adapted to be mounted thereon and connected with the door, and means for operating such shaft, substantially as described.

3. In a dump car, the combination of a car-frame, a dumping-door mounted therein, a door-supporting shaft extending beneath such door and movable therewith, a flexible element uponwhich such shaft is suspended, and means for operating and supporting such flexible element and thereby the door-supporting shaft and door, substantially as described.

4. 'In dump car, the combination of a car-frame, a dumping-door mounted therein,

, &

a door-supporting shaft extending beneath such door and movable therewith, a flexible element upon which such shaft'is suspended, and main operatin shaft mechanism to which such flexible e ement is connected for operating and supporting such flexible element and thereby the door-supporting shaft and door, substantially as described.

5. In a dump car, the combination of a car-frame, a dumping-door mounted therein, a shaft extending beneath such door and movable therewith, a flexible element upon which such shaft is suspended, a mainoperatingshaft with which suchflexible element is connected for operating and supporting such flexible element and thereby the door, and means for operating such main operatingshaft and thereby raising and lowering the swinging shaft and door, substantially as described. H

6. In a dump-car, the combination of a car-frame, a dumping-door mounted therein, a shaft extending beneath such door and movable therewith, a flexible element upon which such shaft is suspended,- a main operating-shaft mounted in the car-frame .and having an eccentric member, a flexible element attachedto such eccentric memberand connected with the swinging shaft and thereby with the door, and means for operating such main operating-shaft and thereby the door, substantially as described.

7. In a dump-car, the combination of a car-frame provided with transverse beams having a space-between the sides thereof for admitting mechanism for operating the dumping-doors,

therein for admitting mechanism for o erating the dumping-doors, a plurality of umpside stakes connected withsuch transverse beams provided w1th a space ing-doors pivotally mounted in such carframe, main operating-shafts mounted upon the side frames, the hollow ortion of the side stakes connected with suc main operatin -shaft and dumping-doors and extending t ough the space formed between the side portions of the transverse beams for operating and supportingthe doors, substantially as described. 8. In a dump-car, the combination of a lurality of dumping-doors, a supportingiiamework in which such doors are pivotally mounted provided with side frames and hollow side stakes, main operating-shafts rotatably mounted. in such side frames, and mechanism connected with such shafts and dumping-dadors and arranged inside the hollow. side stakes such doors, substantially as described.

9 In a dump-oar, the combination of a car-frame, a dumping-door mounted therein, a door-supp0rting shaft extending beneath such door and movable therewith, a flexible element upon which such shaft is suspended, main operating shaft mechanism to which and mechanism mounted in for operating and supporting I io such flexible element is connected for operating and supporting such flexible element and thereby the door-supporting shaft and door, gear mechanism for operating such main operating-shaft, and means for connecting such gear mechanism operatively with the operating-shaft and releasing it therefrom to permit the doors to swin to open position, substantially as described.

10. In a dump-car, the combination of a car-frame, a dumping-door mounted therein, a door-operating shaft mounted in the carframe and having an eccentric member rotatabletherewith, afiexible element attached to such eccentric member and connected with the door for operating such door, a worm-wheel mounted upon such main operating shaft in movable relation thereto, ciutch mechanism for operatively connecting such worm-wheel with the main operating shaft and disconnecting it therefrom to permit the rotation of the shaft while the wormwheel is stationary, and means for operating such worm-wheel, substantiallyas described.

11. In a dump-car, the combination of a car-frame, a dumping-door mounted therein, a door-supporting shaft extending beneath such door and movable therewith, a flexible element upon which such shaft is suspended,- mairi-operating-shaft mechanism to which such flexible element is connected for operating and supporting such flexible element and thereby the door-supporting shaft and door,

a wo m wheel mounted upon such main opcrating-shaft in movable relation thereto, clutch mechanism for operatively connecting such worm-wheel with the main operatingshaft and disconnecting it therefrom to permit the rotation of the shaft while the wormwith the main operating sh aft mecha nism,

and dumping-door mechanism, substantially as described.

13. In a dump-car, the combination of a supporting-framework, dum 3irig-doors pivotally mounted therein, side frames provided with panels hollowed out for admitting dooroperating shafts between the outside and inside surfaces of such side frames, door-oper-- ating shafts mounted between the outside and inside surfaces of the side frames, and means for co'nnectingsuch door-operating shafts with the doors, substantially as described.

SPENCER OTIS. Witnesses:

THOMAS F. SHERIDAN, HARRY I. CnoMER. 

